From Networks to Function — Computational Models of Organogenesis

Dagmar Iber

Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) ETH Zürich, Mattenstraße 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland

Abstract

One of the major challenges in biology concerns the integration of data across length and time scales into a consistent framework: how do macroscopic properties and functionalities arise from the molecular regulatory networks and how do they evolve? Morphogenesis provides an excellent model system to study how simple molecular networks robustly control complex pattern forming processes on the macroscopic scale in spite of molecular noise, and how important functional variants can evolve from small genetic changes. Recent advancements in 3D imaging technologies, computer algorithms, and computer power now allow us to develop and analyse increasingly realistic models of biological control. To also incorporate cellular dynamics and cell-cell interactions in our simulations, we have now also developed a software tool that allows us to solve our regulatory network models on dynamic 2D and 3D tissue domains at cellular resolution. I will present our recent work where we use data-based modeling to arrive at predictive models to address the mechanism of branching in lungs and kidneys, the mechanism by which an asymmetry emerges in our hand (thumb to pinky), as well as a mechanism by which proportions are maintained in differently sized embryos.